Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, has sent 50,000 of his own people abroad to work in forced labour conditions in China, Russia and the Middle East, receiving more than US$1.5 billion ($2.2 billion) a year in return, the United Nations has claimed.
Marzuki Darusman, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, accused the country of violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which bans forced labour. He said companies hiring North Korean workers were "complicit in an unacceptable system of forced labour".
Darusman's office estimates that more than 50,000 North Korean workers are employed overseas, primarily in logging, mining and the textile and construction sectors. Most are put to work in Russia and China, although his report names 15 countries, including Kuwait, Malaysia, Poland, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Human rights organisations have reported that the workers are paid around US$120 a month, do not receive adequate food and are sometimes required to work 20 hours a day. They are closely guarded by North Korean officials to ensure they do not escape.
Employers pay the North Korean Government far larger amounts to use the workers. Darusman said the system earns Pyongyang as much as US$1.5 billion a year.
